A longtime Rochester company could potentially get a different owner.
Bausch + Lomb, whose roots in Rochester date back to the 19th century, confirmed this week that it may explore a potential sale of that company, which employs about 1200 people in the Rochester area.
There had been rumors previously about that possibility, and B +L’s parent company, the Canadian pharmaceutical firm Bausch Health, has now confirmed that is being discussed.
“As previously disclosed, the Company believes that completing the full separation of its subsidiary, Bausch + Lomb Corporation, makes strategic sense,” Bausch Health said in a statement released on Thursday.
Bausch said that its Board of Directors authorized management and management of its subsidiary, Bausch + Lomb, to explore a potential sale, “which is one of several options being considered to complete the separation. That process is ongoing. No decision has been reached to proceed with any particular transaction, and there can be no assurance that it will result in a transaction.”
There has been speculation B + L could be sold to a private equity firm. If that were to happen, Brighton Securities Chairman George Conboy isn’t too worried that a new owner would move the current Rochester operation out of town.
“I think that if Bausch were to go private again, (with) the big optics center here in Rochester, it’s a very important facility for the company,” said Conboy. “They have a lot of intellectual property there, good manufacturing. Rochester is likely to stay intact in any transaction.”
Much of Bausch + Lomb’s contact lens manufacturing and development is done in Rochester at the North Goodman St. location.
Conboy does think the potential sale of B + L will garner some interest from investment companies.
“Bausch is a very storied brand name, and there’s no doubt that the kind of presence Bausch and Lomb has in the optics care market, especially contact lenses and contact lens solution,” said Conboy.
But at least one big player in the private equity market may have cooled on the prospect of purchasing Bausch + Lomb.
The Financial Times reported this week that the private equity company Blackstone, in October had teamed up with investor TPG to explore a bid for Bausch + Lomb. But the Financial Times reported that people familiar with the talks said that Blackstone later “balked at the frothy price expectations” of the seller.
In the statement released by Bausch Health this week the company said it “does not intend to provide additional detail until further disclosure is appropriate or necessary.”
